AMD updates the Catalyst release schedule; pre-DX11 hardware updates 4 times a year
 

This afternoon we received an email from AMD explaining their new Driver Support model for older hardware:

AMD will be moving the AMD Radeon™ HD 2000, AMD Radeon HD 3000, and AMD Radeon HD 4000 Series of products to a new driver support model. We will continue to support the mentioned products in our Catalyst releases, but we’re moving their updates to a quarterly basis, whereas our AMD Radeon HD 5000 and later products will continue to see monthly updates. The Quarterly Catalyst releases will focus on resolving application specific issues and critical updates.

The reason for the shift in support policy is largely due to the fact that the AMD Radeon HD 2000, AMD Radeon HD 3000, and AMD Radeon HD 4000 Series have been optimized to their maximum potential from a performance and feature perspective.

The 8.97 based driver, released in May 2012 will be the first driver for the AMD Radeon HD 2000, AMD Radeon HD 3000, and AMD Radeon HD 4000 Series under the new support model; it is an extremely stable and robust driver branch for these products and will be the baseline for our quarterly updates.

Our main development and testing efforts will now be focused on the AMD Radeon™ HD 5000 and later products. This is the best use of our resources, as the AMD Radeon HD 5000, AMD Radeon HD 6000, AMD Radeon HD 7000, and future products have the greatest potential for further performance and feature enhancements.

Also with regards to Windows 8 support for the AMD Radeon™ HD 2000, 3000, 4000 Series of products; the In-the-box AMD Graphics driver that ships with Windows 8 will include support for the AMD Radeon HD 2000, 3000, and 4000 Series, and it will support the WDDM 1.1 driver level features. The AMD Catalyst driver for Windows 8 will only include support for WDDM 1.2 support products (AMD Radeon HD 5000 and later).

coincidentally an 8.97 'win8' leak happened & it's looking interesting

makes total sense. why update this old hardware every month when most of the updates don't even apply to them? better to focus on the new stuff and let those with 4 year old cards get quarterly updates.

Your card is 4 years old next year. Youre okay with it going legacy by then? What if you had two 5870s?

Most, the overwhelming majority, people upgrade every 24-36mo. Few people upgrade every 12-18mo., and fewer still under that, but similarly at the other end of the curve, upgrades at 48-60mo at scarce.

In September of 2013, when the 5000 series is 4 years old, we might be in a different position; I don't think this decision indicates a written in stone policy decision.

AMD have to support their APU's as well as discrete graphics AIB's, and those APU's use the same graphics hardware as the 5000 series. This might push the support for that series of graphics products out a lot longer.

I still have a 4890 and honestly haven't felt the need to upgrade. It performs vastly better than what I get out of a console, and that's good enough for me.

I'm not too happy that we won't see Catalyst controls.


(I'm running the Win 8 CP)

i'll upgrade by then, but regardless if they give me a new driver every 4 months i'd still be happy. I don't update my driver every month, only if it addresses a game i play regularly, so no biggie.:)

I was planning on upgrading my 4870x2 over the next couple months, after this news I dont think ill be sticking with amd any longer. I have always been loyal. But my current card basically being shunned by them when it still work great for most every games on the maeket today. I was looking forward to the 7970, but if they stick to their guns on this(im sure they prob will). Nvidia will have my business from here onout

so.... why are you upgrading?

In regards to upgrading, well, enthusiasts are enthusiasts

My mindset though, I prefer to upgrade when my GPU struggles in the games I play (graphical differences depends on the games, but let's set the bar somewhere below medium)...And with the majority of games still being DX9 console ports, that hasn't yet happened

I've seen quite alot of people say that they see no reason to go for a upgrade their aged GPUs yet, because they don't play the games where it really makes a difference

In that case, won't they be unaffected by the change in support as they're not playing the titles that need the fixes?

New titles may need new fixes, regardless if they are demanding or not

To make an extreme example, if AMD had moved their DX10/10.1 cards to legacy at this time last year, all these users had been forced to wait for much longer to get Rage fixed

I don't care about the time they take. I care about the fact that I don't have the Catalyst Control Panel in Win 8 and according to AMD I won't.

Are you sure? Windows 8 will have inside a HD 2000 - 4000 driver, you think there will be no way to install CCC?

Not in a way AMD supports.

You're sure?

Linux as well? or is Linux support still going to be EOL'd as reported?

Linux support isn't EOL AFAIK.